


Defective Software

by Muted_Badger



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2020-10-05 03:08:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20481848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muted_Badger/pseuds/Muted_Badger
Summary: In a world where androids are common place, it was finally about time the Loud family got their very own. After saving up enough money to buy a second hand android, the Louds settle on one that had freckled cheeks and stark white hair.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey MutedBadger here!
> 
> So this is my second fanfiction story that I have posted over on FF.net, and once again I thought I might as well post it here to.
> 
> This story was inspired by works from two other authors on FF.net, those being Whimfu1 and King Genocide. They have both done something like this and both are very fun reads, so if you want to check them out, than do.
> 
> Anyway, on to the chapter.

"2489, 2490, 2491..."

I listen to Dad mutter out number after number, as I lie on the floor beside the coffee table in the sitting room.

Throwing my baseball into the air, I try to ignore the ever-increasing feeling of boredom that was taking over me. Dad had started almost half an hour ago and seemed like he was no closer to actually getting don-

"All right kids," Dad suddenly exclaims, cutting off my thoughts as he does, "it looks like we have finally saved up enough money to buy ourselves our very own android!"

I sit up, tossing the ball in my hand into the air one more time as I do, and turn to look at Dad. He was smiling at all of us, gesturing to the scattered piles of coins and notes on the coffees table.

"It's about time," I mutter with some nods of agreement coming from the rest off them who were on the couch.

"If I had to work one more double shift, I think I would literally cry." Lori admits, standing behind the sofa with a haunted look plastered on her face.

"Yeah, it feels like we have been working our asses off for like ever," Lola grumbles from the middle seat, only to stop talking when Dad throws a warning glance at her as the word 'asses' leaves her mouth.

Lola was right though, we have been working our asses off for the last couple of months just to come close to affording an android, with each of us gathering money in our own ways to put towards this one thing.

From Luan's 'Funny Business' earnings, to Lola's pageant winnings, It has been a group effort from all of us.

Well, all of us except for Luna, who for some reason had refused to add any money towards this. We had tried to find out the reason why she was not willing to help, but she refused to tell us.

She wasn't even in the room right now, deciding to stay in her bedroom instead, not even bothering to come and check if we met our goal or not.

A goal that I was a bit sad to admit wasn't even that impressive, as even after all the work we put in, we still couldn't afford a brand-new android, only making enough to buy a second hand one.

I couldn't care less about it being second hand, I was just happy to be getting one in the first place. Though that couldn't be said about some of the others though, Lola and Lisa were coming to mind when thinking about this.

"So, who wants to come with me to pick out one to buy?" Dad asks, taking me out of my thoughts once again.

All of us were eager to finally get our hands on something to show for our labour, so it was no surprise that when I throw up my hand that everyone else did to.

"Well, why don't all of you make your way, calmly, out to vanzi-" Dad starts to say, but before he could finish his sentence, all of us fly off of where we were sitting or standing and barge past him. Each of us desperately trying to get one of the good seats in the van.

"I said calmly," Dad utters from behind, bringing a hand up to his face as everyone one of us ignores him, nearly take the front door off of the hinges by swinging it open roughly and running out of it once it was wide enough.

I reach the van before any of them and claim a pretty good spot on the right side, next to the window. All of them file into the car after me, each taking a seat with an either a smile or a scowl on their faces.

Once I strap myself in, I look past Leni and Lana who had claimed the spaces beside me and see Dad exiting the house with Luna coming out behind him.

Luna makes her way towards the van, getting into the back seat of the car with a frown on her face. Turning my gaze back to Dad, I see that he was checking the front door for any damage.

Nodding to himself, he finally walks over to the van and gets in. Strapping himself in to the drivers seat, he looks back in our direction to make sure we were all wearing our seat belts.

"All ready to go?" He questions, and receives a chorus of "Yeahs," from all of us.

Turning on the car, his hand immediately goes to the radio, turning on a country station.

"Oh, I love this song." He says, before starting to sing along with it.

"Darling keep me company on the rocky road of life!" He sings loudly making me wince at how out of tune he was.

Covering my ears, I hope to god that he doesn't keep this up for the rest of the journey to the store.

* * *

Pulling up to park outside the android shop, I immediately fling my door open and jump straight out of the van, trying to escape from the hell that was Dad's singing.

Ignoring the confused look he throws my way, I walk up to the store window and look at the androids on sale, as the rest of them pile out of the van behind me.

There are various android models on sale, ranging from all ages and genders. Each of them had kinks in them, showing some wear and tear of prolonged use, but that was kind of to be expected.

Luna comes up behind me and glances over each model, the frown that she maintained throughout the whole trip still intact as she does.

Not paying her any attention, I fall in behind dad who started to lead the charge into the store, opening the glass door with a little ding sound coming from a bell that was hanging above it.

The inside was pretty much how I expected it to be, with different stands littered around the place that had various models of androids stood upon them. On the opposite side of the store from the front, was a counter that had an old fashion till placed on it.

We didn't make it three steps into the store before some man appears from behind a door next to said counter, a door that presumably led to the back of the shop.

I look over the man who had appeared. He was short with black hair and was skinny, he was wearing a pair of blue jeans alongside a plain green shirt that was covered up by a leather apron. A pair of glasses adorned his face and attached to his apron was a name tag that showed his name, which was Lewis.

"Hello!" Lewis exclaims, giving us a bright smile as he does, eyes widening at how many of us were around his store. "Is there anything I can help you fine folks with today?"

"Well, my daughters and I are actually looking to buy an android, preferably one of the cheaper ones." Dad explains to the man, gesturing to all of us as he does.

Tuning out what ever Lewis's response was going to be, I join my sisters who had spread out around the store, inspecting every type of android model on display.

As I look over each different type of model, something strikes me about them, and that was the fact none of them really stood out to me. All of them had the same fake flawless skin with the same side swept hair that only came in one of the following four colours, red, black, brown, and green.

They really didn't stand out to me at all, and none of them really felt like the right one to buy.

Looking over more of the exact same, something catches my eye. Sitting on the counter leaning up against a wall, was a type of android model that I have never seen before in my life. From where I was, I could make out it was a kid model, aged around the early teens or maybe just before them.

Getting closer to it, I begin to pick out why it had caught my eye in the first place, it was all the imperfections it possessed.

The first thing anyone would notice about it was the locks of white hair on its head, especially the large tuft that was sticking up at the back, that made the android stand out like a sore thumb against the coloured wall it was up against.

I have never seen an android with white hair before, and I had to admit, it was oddly nice to look at.

Its cheeks had freckles dotted around them, like specks of dust in a ray of sunshine that breaks up the androids white skin, giving it an almost human quality.

The android's mouth hung open, show casing its pearl white teeth. Looking closer, I notice that one of the front two was interestingly chipped. I can only guess that it probably got that from an accident when it was previously owned.

Liking the look of this one, I scan the store to find dad, who I see was being showed an android man model on the other side of the store.

"Hey Dad," I call to him, "come check this one out."

Hearing me call him, Dad makes his way towards me with a look of intrigue, being trailed by Lewis as he does.

"Whatcha got there Junior? " He asks me, inspecting the android I was looking at.

"I don't know, I never have seen an android that has looked like this before." I respond.

"Ah, that just came in a couple days ago, It's one of the rare L1N-C0-1N models." Lewis informs us, and I give him a confused look.

"L1N-C0-1N?" I repeat back as a question.

"I wouldn't expect you to know about them, only a few thousand of them were made and a lot of them had to be recalled for some unknown reasons,"Lewis explains, putting his hand on the androids shoulder. "So I was really lucky to come across this one, even if it had been modified heavily by its previous owner."

"Modified? In what way?" I ask with a bit of curiosity, the words peaking my interests.

"Well you have the superficial changes, the freckles and the white hair being the main ones, but there also were some interesting software changes. Some of them even boarding on illegal." Lewis answers me, walking over to the model and lifting up its white shirt revealing the activation button before pressing it.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

Three beeps sound off from the android, before Its eyelids snap open, revealing misty white orbs that had a black ring which was slowly rotating clockwise.

"Model L1N-C0-1N, please state your propose." Lewis gives the order to the android, attracting Lana and Lucy who were nearby as he does.

"This units propose is to act as a perfect child and sibling for any designated family members and to perform any order giving by ranking members in the family." The android drones out its answer in a monotone voice, its facial features not changing once as it does.

"Thank god it works, It took me a couple of days to purge its systems of the modifications." Lewis admits, before bring his hand up to rub his chin and muttering, "It was almost like the thing was fighting back or something."

"I think he looks cool," Lana interrupts the conversation, not bothering to listen to whatever Lewis was muttering about, "The rest of them are pretty boring."

"He does have a certain... quality about him," Lucy agrees, getting closer to the android.

"Girls, can you come over here and have a look at this one?" Dad calls the rest of them over here, probably thinking we were on to a winner with this one, judging by the interest that Lucy and Lana were showing this particular model.

I watch as all of them head on over here and position themselves around us to get a good view of what we were looking at. I also notice that Luna is hanging back with her arms crossed, not bothering to even attempt to get a proper look at the android that has grabbed our attention.

Shaking my head, I focus more on the rest of them as they one by one take turns to get closer to the android, making passing comments as they do.

"Look at that hair, it is so white," Leni says in awe, raising her hand to run her fingers through the fake white locks of hair before moving to make room for Lori to see.

"Cute freckles," Lori murmurs, rubbing her thumb over the cheek of the android.

"Think of all the material I could write for my shows if I had a boy and an android in them." Luan says from behind me, probably already scheming up ways to prank us with the thing.

I nod in agreement and look around to see everyone else doing the same.

"Are you sure?" Lewis asks us, before gesturing out towards the store and adding "We have a lot more up to date and better quality models to pick from."

"No way, tell him that we want this one Dad," Lana pleads and Dad just pats her on the head.

"I think the kids have come to a decision." He says.

"Well if you are sure," Lewis responds with some uncertainty before walking towards the android we are about to buy and turning it off.

The store fills with a whirring sound as the power leaves the android's system, causing it to slump down on the counter.

"Girls, while I pay Lewis here, would you please load the android into the car." Dad asks before leaving with Lewis to go and pay him.

"Not it!" Lori exclaims after he leaves, only for the rest of them to do the exact same thing.

I just stand there in shock before sighing to myself, dang it, looks like I'm the one who is going to be moving the thing.

Lifting it up off the counter, I put it on to my shoulders and walk towards the store exit.

Getting outside, I am nearly knocked off my feet as a man passes by me, not even looking where he was going. I then had to dodge two androids who were trailing behind him, carrying a lot of bags in their hands.

Cursing him out in my head, I walk to the car and pop open the boot. I try to clear out some space before lugging the android into it.

Before closing the boot, I take one more look at the android we just bought. This thing is going to become somewhat of a new addition to the house, doing chores we don't want to do and helping us all with our activities, it's kind of exciting.

Closing the boot, I wait for the rest of them to leave the store and prepare my ears for the assault they are about to get from Dads singing on the way home.

* * *

"Jesus, this thing is heavy," I complain as I put our newly bought android down on to the sitting room sofa.

As soon as I let go of it, the android falls on to its side and almost rolls off of the couch, but I manage to catch it before it does.

Adjusting it to not fall, I let go and take a step back to let Mom and Lily have a look at the android we have bought, both of them having gotten home around the same time we did from the store.

"Well ain't he a little cutie," Mom remarks before holding Lily out to let her have a proper look at the thing.

"Poo poo," Lily says with a lot more excitement than she usually does and I couldn't help but feel that she loves the android already.

"If you don't mind, I will now begin the activation sequence of the L1N-C0-1N model type android." Lisa informs the room, stepping past Mom and Lily to lift up the androids white shirt, pressing the same button Lewis did at the store.

*Beep, Beep, Beep,*

The three beeps reverberate off of the sitting room walls and the android sits up straight, its eyes snapping open to reveal the same misty eyes with the black spinning circles.

"Model L1N-C0-1N commence new ownership starter routines" Lisa orders it, and we all lean in with interest to see what will happen.

I see several green lines appear at her words in its white eyes replacing the black circles, the lines then start to move from left to right.

"New owner routines started, please can the ranking family members state their names for future reference," The androids monotone voice comes out of its barely moving mouth.

Mom and Dad look shocked for a second before snapping out of it and give the android their names.

"Lynn Loud Sr." Dad says, and receives a ding noise in return.

"Rita Loud," Mom says after Dad and gets the same ding noise he did.

"Can the rest of the family members please state their names for future reference." It then asks.

Going from oldest to youngest we each state our names to the android getting a ding each time one of our names is said to it.

"Affirmative" It states after Mom gives it Lily's name, before it moves on to the next stage of it's set up cycle, "please state Model L1N-C0- 1Ns future operating family name."

A family name? I totally forgot that we were going to have to name this thing. I was quiet for a second, trying to come up with a cool name to give the android that I barely notice that everyone was pretty much doing the same.

"Oh, what about Lincoln !" Leni exclaims out of nowhere, with her index finger brought up to her face in thought.

I look at her with a questioning look, and she just shrugs her shoulders at me.

"What? His model number looks like it spells that," She explains to the room, and I had to admit that she did have a point, the model number was basically a version of the name Lincoln with a few numbers thrown in there.

"Affirmative," The android on the couch speaks up making me look at it with raised eyebrows.

"This Model will now refer to its self, and respond to the designation ' Lincoln '," The now named Lincoln Informs us, taking away the chance of choosing a different name.

Well, it wasn't a bad name, I guess and as I glance around the room I notice that everyone else seemed fine with the name.

"Good, now model L1-, I mean Lincoln, run a diagnostic check on all systems." Lisa commands Lincoln, who sits completely still for a few seconds before moving each of his limbs one by one.

"No inconsistencies found within my software" He says with a little pause, "and all but one of my hardware components are running at normal capacity." He reports back.

"And what is the one that isn't," Lisa asks.

"There is a problem with the power cells housed in my lower back, the problem will cause me to be 40 percent less efficient, leading to longer charging times and quicker depletion of my energy reserves." Lincoln drones out the information to us.

"That does not sound good," Lori says from behind me, concern in her tone.

"Fret not sibling units, I will endeavour to make a far more viable system of energy creation and storage for Lincoln here, though it may take me a couple of days to get it fully installed." Lisa tells us staring off in to the distance, probably already coming up with new ways to power Lincoln.

""Does that mean I can't have him help me improve my karate or baseball swing?" I ask Lisa, breaking her daze as I do.

"You can, but you need to make sure you do not drain his batteries to fast, it might cause me problems when I try to put a new one in." Lisa answers me while adjusting the glasses on her face.

"That kind of sucks," I say with some disappointment.

"Sigh, well he was bought second hand, so we couldn't expect him to be perfect" Lucy says with what seemed to be indifference but I could pick up a trace of disappointment, I wonder what she had planned to do with the android.

"Yeah and it was really cheap, it was almost like the android was 'Free of charge'," Luan says, laughing at her own terrible joke as we all groan around her.

"Lincoln, you may now commence all normal activities." Lisa totally ignores the bad joke and issues the final order to Lincoln.

At her words, the android's body loosens up and becomes less robotic in all of its features. The once misty eyes now have green Irises that let off a little glow and his mouth morphs into a smile.

I am taking by surprise as the androids monotone voice is replaced with that of a typical boy as it opens its mouth to say it's first sentence to us.

"Hi, my name is Lincoln, it's great to meet you all."


	2. Android Fashion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leni brings Lincoln to the mall and makes Lori go too.

I couldn't help notice how oddly quiet the house was for this time of day. Usually there would be some kind of commotion happening between some of the girls, like Lola and Lana arguing or Luan pulling a prank on someone, but surprisingly there was none of that.

I really can't remember the last time I was able to just sit in my room and read my magazines in peace without some kind of sound leaking through the floorboards or walls.

That android we bought must be the cause, I think to myself.

Ever since we got Lincoln, it was able to keep every one of the girls happy with each other, stopping them from getting into petty fights over trivial things.

Before Lincoln, I was the one who maintained the order in the house, keeping the peace all by myself. However, now that we have the android, I guess that I am not needed to do that any more.

I am hit with sudden feeling of sadness in my chest, but before I could understand why, my bedroom door flies open.

"LORI!"

The shout causes me to almost jump off of my bed, but I manage to stop myself from doing so. Turning to look at Leni who had just burst in, I see that she had the android I was thinking about trailing behind her.

"What are you literally doing Leni?" I ask her with annoyance, and re-adjust myself back into the comfortable sitting position I was in previously, bringing my reading material back on to my lap as I do.

"It's an emergency Lori!" Leni exclaims, before grabbing Lincoln by the shoulders and pushing it towards me, "LOOK at him."

Leaning forward, I look over the android and notice that nothing seemed to be broken or wrong.

"Leni, I see nothing wrong with him," I say, throwing her a confused stare.

"Nothing wrong? Look at those clothes and tell me nothing is wrong." Leni says dramatically, taking a step back and waving her hand over Lincoln's body.

Sighing to myself, I once again look over Lincoln, but this time I make sure to take in what the android was wearing. To be honest, what Lincoln was wearing was not that great, the outfit being just a plain white t-shirt with a blue arm band, accompanied by a pair of brown khaki trousers.

That didn't really matter though.

"Leni, it's an android, who literally cares what the thing is wearing." I state, and watch as Leni's face turns to one of horror.

"I care! How can I be seen with him if he is wearing those ugly things?" She asks while bringing the back of her hand up to her forehead.

"They are not ugly Leni, they are just plain." I reply.

"Exactly, they are plain ugly." Leni complains, "That's why I wanted to ask if you could please drive us to the mall, to do a little bit of clothes shopping?"

"I am not driving you all the way to the mall so you can buy clothes for something that doesn't even care about them." I tell her immediately, knowing that going shopping for the android would just be a waste of time.

"I care." Lincoln speaks up, catching me off guard. I turn to look at him with a confused look, and he just smiles back.

"If Leni cares about what I look like, then I must care to," The android explains, looking between the both of us.

"See!" Leni says nodding at Lincoln, making me to almost want to plant my face into the magazine on my lap.

"He is only saying that because he is programmed to try to agree with everything you say." I try to explain to her, but she shakes her head.

"That's not true, he really does care about fashion." Leni says whilst beginning to ruffle the android's hair with her right hand.

Not even bothering to respond to that, I try to go back to reading, but I only get a couple of seconds of quiet before Leni speaks up again.

"Please?" she asks getting on to the bed next to me, before continuing, "Please, please, please, please, please, please, please."

Her begging goes on for the next five minutes, and was showing no signs of slowing down.

I can not give in to her childish begging, Leni must learn that she can not get what she wants by doing something like this.

No, I won't give in.

"Please, please, please, pleas-"

"OH MY GOD, fine I'll take you to the damn mall, just STOP saying please." I say finally giving into her.

At hearing my words, Leni jumps up and let's out a loud "YAY!" before taking me into a hug and squeezing.

"Leni, let go of me." I grind out, as the hug was beginning to feel like it was crushing my ribs making me wonder when did she get so strong.

Letting me go, she then turns to Lincoln and grabs him by the hands.

"Did you hear that Lincy? We are so giving you a makeover," She says while laughing, causing Lincoln to laugh with her.

Lincy? No, I am totally not going to question the nickname she had giving the android, instead I shake my head and begin to usher both of them out of the room.

"If we are going to the mall than we are going now, go get in the car you two," I order them.

Leni, barely containing her excitement, starts to pull Lincoln along as she goes.

Sighing to myself, I couldn't help but think that this is going to be a long trip as I hear the front door open and close to the sound of cheering coming from Leni.

Making my own way down the stairs, I notice Luna was in the sitting room watching television by herself.

Coming up behind her, I see that the news channel is on, and what was ever was being said had all of Luna's attention.

"_Now in recent news, notably software developer and engineer, Dr. Rose Forrester, has been charged guilty on her charge of violating the 'Unconscionable Ascension Act'_. The male news anchor says before turning to look at his female co-host.

"_That's right Jim, the doctor had been discovered harbouring not one but two androids that were exhibiting above average intelligence for a common model. Both androids were eventually scrapped when after more testing showed that they even had a grasp on basic human emotion_." The female anchor states, taking a little break to look down at her papers before continuing, "_Dr. Forrester had this to say after her verdict today_."

The image on the television changes to that of a court room, where a woman in her late thirties stood with a neutral look on her face.

She opens her mouth to speak.

"_What has happened today is terrible, and will be seen as unjust by those who will come after us. Those andro- , no living beings, have been sentence to death for the mere crime of existing and learning, in what world should that kind of execution be acceptable?_ " The Doctor says before it cuts back to the news room.

"Next up, are you suff-"

The television was suddenly turned off and was soon accompanied by the sound of the remote being slammed down on to the arm rest of the couch by Luna who quickly stands up. I could see the anger in her stance and swiftly take a step back as she storms past me to the stairs, stomping her way up them.

Huh? I wonder what has got her so worked upped, I haven't seen her that angry since she failed to convince Mom and Dad to give her money for that sweaty t-shirt she wanted to buy online.

Maybe I should go check if she is okay.

"Lori? Leni is wondering what is taking so long, she believes that you may have gotten lost on your way to the front door." Lincoln's voice makes me jump, as he suddenly appears beside me

When the hell did he come back inside?

"What? No, I didn't get lost, I just got a little distracted by something." I half-heartily explain to him.

I look between the stairs, where Luna went and the keys to the van that were on the coffee table, trying to decide what I should do next.

"Leni also had a message for you Lori." The android talks, making me glance at him, " her message is as follows."

"Please hurry up, please hurry up, please hurry up, please hurr- "

Rolling my eyes at Lincoln, I walk around the couch and grab the keys off of the coffee table.

"I get it Lincoln." I say shutting it up, "Come on, let's go get you something else to wear so Leni will stop bothering me about it."

* * *

"How about that one?" Leni asks for about the fifth time since we had arrived at the mall, pointing at another store.

"Doesn't allow androids," I sigh out my answer to her, while we squeeze ourselves past a large group of people and androids.

"And that one?" She questions, this time pointing at the 'Reininger's' store further down from us.

"Leni they fired you." I remind her, "You were accused of robbing scarfs from there, remember?"

At my words Leni seems to deflate slightly, making me kind of sad for her.

When Leni first told us that she was fired for stealing scarfs, we were all shocked, every single one of us knew that Leni was not capable of doing such an act, she just wasn't that type of person. At seeing her so defeated, we had tried to get Leni's job back for her, but unfortunately we were unable to convince her boss that she was innocent.

"Oh yeah," She replies dejectedly, before adding, "I really never did steal those scarfs."

"Do not be sad Leni, If it counts, I believe you. I know that you are too kind to steal anything." Lincoln speaks up from the sidelines, patting Leni on the back as a way to comfort her.

"Aww, thank you Lincy." She says becoming all perky again, with her signature smile returning to her face.

I just roll my eyes at the exchange, I really do hope that Leni knows that the android is saying these things because it has to, but something was telling me that she didn't.

"Ohh, look at that shop, those dresses are so cute," Leni suddenly gushes, beginning to walk towards the store she was looking at.

I instantly reach out and grab on to the back of her teal dress before she manages to get to far away.

"Leni, we are shopping for Lincoln here, try to keep on track for five seconds." I sternly scold her whilst pulling her back to me.

"But, but, but they look so nice." She mutters and stares directly across the mall at the dresses.

"You can buy them later, but first we need to find a store that allows androids and sells boy clothes." I tell her, crossing my arms and giving her a serious look.

I wait until she gives me a nod, before we continue to search. After a couple more minutes of looking, we finally find a store that suited our needs which was located on the second floor of the shopping center.

Entering the shop, I steer Leni away from the girl section, and push her along until we reached the teenage boy part of the store. Just being in this section of the store felt kind of weird, having so many girls in the family there was never any need to do any boy clothes shopping.

I am surprised by how excited I am to actually try my hand at putting together an outfit for the opposite gender.

Leni and I spread out to different clothes racks in search for something the android could wear and after five minutes of searching, I had only picked had picked out three outfits. Lincoln's white hair was really making this hard for me, it was almost impossible to find anything that went well with it.

Meeting up with Leni after a few more minutes of shopping, we both lay out what we had chosen on to a nearby chair and start to go through what we think would make the best combo., while making Lincoln try on whatever we choose.

Pulling out an orange polo, she squints her eyes at Lincoln and pokes her tongue out of the side of her mouth in concentration.

As she holds the polo up to the androids body, I throw her a sceptical look.

"Orange? Really?" I ask, doubtful of her choice of colour.

I take a little step back to get a better look at Lincoln with the polo on, and was surprised to see that the orange went well with the odd coloured hair, as both colours weirdly complementing each other.

"Eeeeek," Leni squeals from beside me, almost jumping up in excitement. "Lincoln, you look amazing."

"Of course I do, both you and Lori have done a great job in picking out a suitable outfit for me to wear." Lincoln says, straightening out the polo to fit better on its body.

"I know right?" Leni says enthusiastically, her chest sticking out in pride.

While they talk to each other, I start to put back every piece of clothing that we picked out that didn't seem to fit Lincoln, going from rack to rack hanging each up item where it belongs.

When I come back to them, I see that Lincoln was still complementing Leni's "great" fashion choices.

"If you two are done, let's buy these things already, so I can go home." I interrupt the little thing these two were having, trying to hurry them along, knowing that the two of them could probably keep this up for hours.

"Come on Lincy, let's go to the counter." Leni says, starting to pull the android along in the direction of the counter.

I was just about to follow them, when I spot Lincoln's blue armband laying on one of the seats outside of the changing room we were using. Picking it up, I begin to follow Leni who was speeding through the store.

"Wait up for a second Leni, you forgot to put back on Lincoln's arm band." I say raising my voice to catch her attention.

Both of them stop a few meters a head of me, allowing me to finally catch up to them. I grab Lincoln's arm and quickly slide the arm band on, before asking it, "Lincoln, can you make sure you always have this thing on?"

"I will try my best to do that Lori." The android responds nodding with a smile.

"That thing totally ruins the outfit Lori, does he really have to wear it?" Leni complains from the side and I turn to look at her.

"Leni, you know it is the law that all androids have to wear the identification arm band, so don't even try to take it off when I am not looking." I tell her, making sure to give a stern look only to get a pout in return.

Reaching the front of the store, I see that there was an android man standing behind the counter with a name tag that read, 'Tom'. Its eyes lock on to me and it gives me a smile.

"Hello miss, are you ready to check out?" The android asks me in a pitch perfect voice, a far cry from how Lincoln sounds.

"Uh, yes, we would like to buy the clothes that Lincoln here is wearing ," I say to it, gesturing at our android that was to the side of me.

"Of course," Tom affirms and turns to look at Lincoln, its eyes going fully green as the android scans Lincoln up and down.

"That would be fifty dollars please." Tom states, looking back at me with its eyes retuning to normal.

Handing over the money, I Ignore the "thank you" that Tom gives me and turn around to usher both Lincoln and Leni out of the store.

Shopping over, we begin to make our way out of the mall, as we walk, I take out my phone to make sure I haven't missed any messages from either of my parents or Bobby.

"Can we get something to eat Lori? I'm hungry," Leni asks, peering into the nearby food court as we pass it.

"You can get something to eat when we get home Leni." I mutter, not even bothering to look at her, more preoccupied with the phone in my hand.

"But home is ages away." Leni moans, putting extra emphasis on the word 'ages'.

"I am telling you right now, we are not stopping to get some-" I start to say, though before I could finish, I spot a group of people in front of us.

While this wouldn't be a cause for concern, a lot of people in the group were holding signs in their hands, signs that nearly all read, 'Down With Androids'.

I go to grab both Leni and Lincoln's arms to drag them away, to find a different way out of the mall, but I feel Lincoln being dragged back by someone.

I turn to see a man with long hair gripping on to Lincoln's new orange polo, a sneer was placed firmly on his face.

"Well, if it isn't an android parading around as a kid." He growls out, lifting Lincoln up to be on his eye level.

"Sorry sir, I do not understand." Lincoln responds with a confused expression on its face.

"Of course you don't, you're a piece of fucking plastic, a lifeless machine who thinks it is better than us." The long haired man grunts with a little bit of spit flying out of his mouth.

"I am not better than any human, I have been programmed to serve my owners," The android replies, not bothering to do anything about the saliva that was now on its face.

"You were better enough to take my fucking job," The man laments while shaking the kid android in his hands.

"But, I have not taken your job, you must be confused." Lincoln tells him and apparently this was enough to push him over the edge as he drops the android to the ground.

"I am confused alright, confused on how we let circuit boards like you are allowed to walk all over us," He declares lifting up his foot to bring down on to Lincoln's back.

"Lori, they are going to hurt Lincoln, do something!" Leni says with panic and it snaps me out of my daze, making me spring to action.

"Hey you can't hurt it, that android belongs to us." I say throwing myself in the way of the man and Lincoln.

"Well ain't that rich, you would rather defend this thing, than a humans right to work?" The man remarks, lowering his foot as he does, probably not wanting to risk hurting a real human.

"No, that tin can and its kind have done a lot to me, but you wouldn't understand now would you?," He says frowning, "I bet your parents both still have their jobs, I can tell you right now that if they didn't, than you would be on my side."

Not bothering to dwell on his words, I glance at Leni out of the corner of my eye.

"Leni, grab Lincoln." I order her and don't move until she picks the android up off the ground.

I slowly back away from the confrontation, and only turn around when the man returns to the group he had left.

Once again grabbing both of their hands, I begin to pull them towards the exit and out to the car park. The walk to the van was quiet after that, both Leni and I not wanting to talk about what just happened.

Reaching the Van, Leni quietly gets into the front passenger seat, while I open the back door for Lincoln to clamber on in.

"Thank you for your assistance Lori, I do not know what I did to anger that man so much." Lincoln says to me once he was fully in Vanzilla.

"You did nothing wrong Lincoln," I explain to the android.

"But then why was he mad at me?" Lincoln questions a confused expression

"He was only mad because he lost his job to an android, it had nothing to do with you." I try to explain to the android.

"That is illogical though, if I was not the one to take his job, he should not have a reason to be angry with me." Lincoln argues.

"Look Lincoln, it's better if you don't try to understand it." I say ending this conversation.

"Ok Lori." Lincoln accepts what I say and I finally close the door.

Leaning my back against the Van, I sigh to myself for what felt like the hundredth time this hour, all I wanted to do today was read my magazines.


	3. Programmed Poetry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucy spends some of her day with Lincoln.

"And done!" A voice loudly exclaims from beside my bed which makes me look up from my notebook, the pen in my hand hovering mid-sentence above the current poem I was working on.

Turning my head slightly to the right, I watch as Lana takes a step back from my freshly painted coffin while placing both of her hands on to her hips to admire her handiwork.

"There you go Lucy, that should be good for another while." She says smiling at me with black smudges all over her face, "just try not to scratch the paint off again."

Studying the coffin, I see that it is now a far cry from how it appeared a few hours ago, going from a rundown box that was in a desperate need of a re-paint to looking like a proper coffin that seemed like it was bought brand new from a store.

"Wow, it looks great, you did a really good job, Lana," the voice of a pre-teen boy speaks up with much enthusiasm, causing both of us to look at the android who was holding various paintbrushes in his hands.

After almost taking a whole five hours for us to come up with some sort of schedule of who gets to spend what day with the android, with a lot of fighting involved I might add, it was finally my turn with Lincoln.

"Thanks for re-painting my coffin Lana," I sigh out to the younger girl in the red cap, "and Lincoln," I add as an afterthought.

Lana gives the box a firm smack on the side before replying, "no probs Luce, you know I am always up for some good re-furnishing of beautiful craftsmanship, such as this."

"You are welcome Lucy, I have enjoyed spending time with both you and Lana." the android boy adds, grinning at the two of us.

"Aw, I enjoyed spending time with you to Lincoln." Lana admits while giving him a pat on the back, "Well, if you don't need anything else to be repaired or painted, I got to go feed the little guys, they get a bit cranky when I miss their lunchtime."

The blonde-haired girl throws a thumb up in the direction of the door, before quickly turning on her heel and heading out, giving me a quick wave as a goodbye.

This left me and Lincoln alone, he was just looking at me, probably waiting for me to start a new activity that he will undoubtedly enjoy to no end. While some people would find Lincolns constant 'Yes Man' attitude to be annoying, I actually found myself enjoying it quite a lot.

This is the first time in my life where someone that lives in this house is showing some interest in the things I like. My sisters couldn't care less about contacting spirits or reading poetry, but Lincoln is always willing to do both of these things with me and it really doesn't matter at all that he was programmed to do so.

"LUCY!" a shout from Lori cuts through my thoughts, blasting its way through my closed door from downstairs, "YOUR WEIRD GOTH FRIENDS ARE HERE."

Oh, I totally forgot that the Young Morticians Club was coming over to hang out today, usually, we would hang out at the Royal Woods Cemetery but unfortunately, it was closed for the week, so we had decided to meet up at my house instead.

A few seconds after the call my bedroom door opens and five figures shuffling their way into the room with some mumbles coming from them about being called "Weird" by Lori.

"Ah, Lucy it is good to see you," The club president Haiku greets me as she takes a sitting position at the end of my bed.

I would be lying if I said that I was happy about Haiku being picked by Bertrand to be the next club president once he left, it just didn't make any sense for her to be chosen over me. She has only been a goth for only a year while I and some of the other members have been like this for so much longer, hell, I have been planning funerals since I was two years old.

With a little huff, I put down my notebook onto my bed, "sigh, hello Haiku," I greet her before looking at the rest of the club members and giving them a quick nod, "Hello guys."

I wait for a few seconds to get a greeting back from them but when none comes, I begin to take in what they were actually doing. Parting my hair a bit to see a little better but still covering them enough so no one could see my eyes, I notice that all the club members were staring at Lincoln.

"Who's the normie?" Morpheus asks with a little flick of his dark blue cape in the direction of Lincoln who was looking at the group with large curious eyes.

"That's Lincoln, we bought him about a week ago," I tell them while hopping off of the bed and walking over to stand beside him.

"So you finally got an android," Persephone says excitingly before her face twists into one of distaste, "What is he wearing? An orange polo?"

"Trust me, I know it's not great, I wanted to dress him in a waistcoat or a black suit but my sisters said that he was fine wearing that," I respond to her while vaguely gesturing over Lincoln's outfit.

"It's so gaudy.." Persephone mumbles to herself while taking her own seat on my bed.

"I have never seen this type of model before." Haiku sighs out, a look of concentration overcoming her expression.

"Apparently he is a pretty rare model, only a few thousand of them were made." I explain to her before bringing up my hands to wiggle my fingers, "And a lot of them had to be recalled for unknown reasons."

What I say seems to catch Morpheus attention, "Oh a mystery, I wonder why they would have recalled them, maybe the model is defective in some way, maybe he is a killer robot!"

"While that would be pretty cool, unfortunately, he hasn't done anything close to defective or murderous since we got him," I say while looking at the android who was still smiling.

"His kind of creepy isn't he," Dante notes with her squeaky voice, "Does he always just stand and grin like that?"

Taking a few seconds to think to myself, I nod at her words, "Yeah, he kind of does, he stays like that until you talk to him directly or when he wants to compliment you on something."

"Speaking of compliments, Lucy I must say that your coffin is looking exceptional," Boris hisses out bringing all of our attention off of the android in the corner and the room descends into polite conversation, with each of us breaking off into smaller groups to talk about what we got up to during the week.

We talk amongst each other for around a half an hour before we all decided to write some poetry while bouncing ideas off of one and other.

"Can he write poetry?" The question breaks the sound of pencil on paper coming from all the members who were mid-poem writing.

Looking at Morpheus who was the one to ask the question, I see that he was staring in Lincoln's direction. The android was still in the corner, having not moved an inch since the club members got here, the ever-present amused look still on his face.

"I don't know." I respond honestly, "It's not something I have really thought about."

"Why not?" He asks, "Wouldn't you think it would be cool to see what a lifeless machine could come up with?"

"I don't know.." I say unsurely, I have never heard of any android who had done anything remotely creative such as art or poetry

"Let's do it," Morpheus stands up with his cape swishing behind him while he turns to face everyone in the room, "Let's see what kind of poem he could come up with."

Without waiting for a response from anyone, Morpheus grabs his pencil and notebook, swinging it open to a blank page before making his way quickly up to Lincoln.

"Hello, Morpheus!" The white-haired robot happily greets him with a wave, "What are you up to?" Ignoring what Lincoln was saying to him, the boy with the cape shoves the items into Lincoln's hands.

"Lincoln do you know what poetry is?" Morpheus questions him.

"Poetry: it is the literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature." The freckled android responds with a textbook answer.

"Good, good, how would you like to write some?" Morpheus continues, while giving Lincoln a pat on the shoulder for his answer.

"I am sorry I do not understand." The android states back with some confusion.

"Poetry, would you like to write a poem?" At his words, Lincoln seems to get more confused, looking down at the notebook and pencil in his hands.

"Write a poem?" The white hair robot whispers to himself before looking up at the boy in front of him, "I am sorry but I am not programmed for the writing of poetry, would you like me to recite some poetry instead?"

"What? no," Morpheus says with some annoyance, "I want you to write one."

"As I have previously stated, I am not programmed to write poetry, it would be almost impossible for me to do so." Lincoln once again tries to explain, only for Morpheus to pout at the android.

"Can you at least try." He asks hopefully, probably trying to play on the androids want to please humans in any way possible.

"But... I don't know what I would write .." Lincoln says after a few moments of silence, looking around the room at all of us. "What would I write about?"

"Anything you want," Haiku suddenly speaks up, sitting up straighter on my bed, "Try to imagine something and then write about how it makes you feel, don't think too much about it."

"How... I feel?" He mumbles to himself, glancing down at his hands and the items in them before closing his eyes.

He sits like that for a minute or so, completely still with an occasional eye twitch being the only sign that he was deactivated.

Suddenly he slowly opens his eyes and his expression becomes one of determination. We all watch with bated breath as the pencil in his hand comes slowly down onto the paper and just as it makes contact with the page, a whirring noise admits from the android.

Caught by surprise by the noise, I watch as Lincoln's eyes go wide with his head snapping up to look at me before the green glow in his eyes fades out his body slumping over.

"Uh, is he supposed to do that?"

* * *

"Lisa, how much longer is this going to take?" I ask while turning to look at my younger sister who was hunched over the prone body of Lincoln.

He was lying face down on one of the many metal tables that Lisa owned with his back popped open like a trunk of a car, revealing the multitude of circuits and wires that make up the inner workings of the android.

"I have told you, this is a delicate procedure that needs to be done correctly," Lisa responds as she extracts a weird looking tube that was leaking, "It also doesn't help that you got a Dofus to carry the android to my room with him dropping it, resulting in some of Lincolns capacitors being knocked loose."

After Lincoln's batteries gave out, I had to get Boris to carry him from my room across the hall to Lisa's Lab as Lincoln was deceptively heavy, and well, Boris may of have accidentally slipped on one of Lily's toys that was lying on the floor causing him to drop Lincoln and for the android to hit the ground.

"So in addition to the fact that I have to fix its broken power cells, I now also have to put back in Lincoln's capacitors as well." Lisa continues on complaining as she fiddles around with something in the androids back causing some sparks to fly past her face.

"Sigh, I don't understand why we couldn't just get new batteries from the second-hand android shop," I remark only to get a scoff from Lisa.

"Please, as if those buffoons at that store could create a more powerful battery than I, In fact, I would be surprised if they could make anything better than me." She mutters to herself before looking up at me to say, "you know I could assemble any android in that shop with my eyes closed, whilst I have a hand tied behind my back."

I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at her words, but Lisa didn't notice due to the hair that was always covering the top half of my face. The young scientist liked to brag a lot about how she could not only build a modern android with ease but also how she could upgrade it to the point of outclassing any model on the market.

There are many reasons why she hasn't though.

One of the main ones was that she foresaw the mass unemployment that would have been caused by creating such things, and she was right as nearly all the big companies across the country have almost replaced their entire workforce for androids.

She also finds no fun in working on technology that has already been invented, preferring herself to be working on stuff that no one has ever thought of.

"And Done!" Lisa exclaims while hopping down off of the stool she was standing on to reach the table, finally done her repairs on the android. "Now before you take him away, I would like to run some tests to ascertain that everything is in working order."

"Fine, but please try to make it quick," I agree to her request and watch as Lisa presses Lincoln's activation button.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

The android sits up immediately, his eyes fly open revealing the misty white eyes underneath with the spinning black circles and his body goes rigid.

"Lincoln, can you run another diagnostic check on all of your hardware systems," Lisa instructs him and pulls out a clipboard with a pen to take notes.

I stare at Lincoln as he moves each part of his body in a circular motion before he opens his mouth to say. "All hardware components are running at a normal capacity, the previous problem with my power cells seems to have been rectified."

I was about to let out a little smile but Lincoln's eyes suddenly go red, and he loudly exclaims, "ALERT! Some unauthorized body modifications have been detected around the leg and arm joints of this model."

Throwing a confused look at Lisa, I see that she does not seem to be fazed at all by this revelation and a little bit of worry goes through me, "What did you do?"

Lisa adjusts the glasses on her face, "do not worry older sibling unit, I just made one little improvement to Lincoln here."

"Sigh, and what would that be?" I ask her with a little bit of concern getting by my monotone voice.

"I have added kinetic generators to Lincoln's joints, so when he moves he will be creating his own power, that should help with this family's already large carbon footprint." Lisa clarifies, "and while it won't eliminate the need for charging, it will lead to a smaller amount of time to do so."

"Lisa, you know that the only changes that you are allowed to make to an android are superficial ones, you could get in a lot of trouble for adding those kinetic things." I point out to her.

"I am perfectly aware of the law around android modification, and I know the addition of the kinetic generators could lead to trouble with the judicial system." Lisa begins to say, turning away from me as she does," but I believe the change to be minor enough not to be a problem or noticeable, now let me continue with my tests."

I wanted to say more but I knew nothing would come of it, Lisa wasn't going to undo the changes she made, and it's not like I could tell anyone about this as it might get out that she made these changes which could result with some trouble with the police or worse.

Knowing that I wasn't going to argue anymore, Lisa puts her attention back on to the android, "Lincoln, ignore the modifications made to your joint systems."

"Affirmative, I will ignore the modifications made to this model." He drones out and the red tint to his eyes slowly fades out.

"Perfect, now Lincoln commence normal operations." At Lisa's words, Lincoln returns to normal once again, his easy-going smile gracing his lips as his eyes returning to their slightly glowing green.

"Hey, guys!" He exclaims, before turning to look at me with a sad expression, "sorry about what happened at the meeting Lucy, I was not aware of how close my power cells were to failing."

"Don't worry about it Lincoln, it was unavoidable." I brush off his apology, I really didn't blame him for losing power like that.

I open my mouth to say something else, but I am interrupted by Lisa who steps towards the android, "Lincoln, could you please get me a towel from the linen closet in the hall to clean up that split fluid."

Lisa points towards the puddle of liquid that was leaking from the tube thing that she extracted earlier and Lincoln quickly stands up nodding.

"I would love to Lisa," The android says kindly, making his way quickly towards the door and out into the hall.

"Good this should be an appropriate test for his kinetic generators," I overhear Lisa mumble to herself as she glides over to a nearby screen.

It was quiet for a few seconds, the only sound being that of a pen writing on paper coming from Lisa as she scribbles down notes, but then a sound both of us didn't expect to hear comes from the hallway, the sound of splashing water.

Looking between each other, both Lisa and I scramble towards the door and out into the hall, peering right to see Lincoln on the ground covered in water as a bucket hung above him attached to the linen closet door.

On the bucket was a note that read 'Water you doing here?...get it?' and I instantly can tell this was a prank set up by Luan meant for one of us.

Normally something like an android getting wet wouldn't be a cause for alarm due to them being waterproof but this was different as Lincoln's backport was still open allowing water to rush into his new power system.

I go to take a step towards him when suddenly he starts to convulse violently on the ground with his limbs flying out in random directions. I turn my head slightly to the right to give a worried glance to Lisa but I notice that she was showing no concern for what was happening in front of her, being more invested with writing up more notes instead.

Shaking my head at the glasses-wearing girl, I decide to get closer to Lincoln.

Coming up beside him, I see that his irises were dilating and contracting, as they strangely start to change colour, flicking from his normal green to a light blue.

Suddenly he begins to mumble out a broken sentence which causes me to take a tiny step back.

"I do-t wa- to be r-se-, I'-m sca-rd, pl-as- do n-t re-e- me, -on't do th-s."

I couldn't make out what he was saying but by the tone of his voice, I could tell that it wasn't something good.

Feeling a presence coming up beside me, Lisa steps back into my visions while still ferociously writing who knows what, while muttering to herself.

I was about to ask her what she was writing but Lincoln abruptly stops his convulsions with his eyes going blank and his body going stiff before he fully shuts down.

It was silent for a few seconds before the word 'Interesting' breaks the quiet, coming from Lisa who finally drops both of her hands down by her sides, apparently done writing whatever she was scribbling down and turning to look at me.

Meeting her eyes with my own, I let out a sigh, this time a real one.

* * *

I was tired, I knew that.

I could feel the tiredness in my chest swirling around, reminding me of just how much I needed to close my eyes and drift away but no matter how hard I tried to reach a sleeping state, slumber still evaded me.

What was keeping me awake? I had no idea, but I think that it might have something to do with the previous events of the day, more specifically, the water accident with Lincoln.

It took Lisa several hours to fix the damage done to the android's circuitry caused by the water 'Prank' by Luan with it also taking some more time to ensure that no permanent damage was done to his software, making sure that what he said during his convulsions was nothing to worry about.

She gave the all-clear on the software check surprisingly quick, which was weird as I thought that there would be something wrong with him, seeing how his eyes changed colour and how he was mumbling incoherently during the convulsions but Lisa said that there was nothing to be concerned about. She explained that the colour change of the eyes was done to the LEDs in his eyes going haywire due to the water in his systems, which makes sense when I think about it.

That didn't stop me from being a slight bit weary of Lincoln though, I just can't shake the feeling that there is something more to the android that we don't know but I just can't put my finger on what that something could be.

Shifting onto my side, I spot my bust of Edwin staring down at me from my bedside table with his beautiful eyes, his shape is outlined by the light of the moon which was spilling in from the window. Just past him, I see my alarm clock with glowing red numbers informing me that another 30 minutes have passed since I last checked the device.

On the other side of the room, I could hear the steady rhythm of Lynn's soft breathing mixed in with her snores as she dreams about who knows what.

Sitting up in my bed, I feel the blanket slip off of my chest exposing any skin unlucky enough to not be covered by my white pyjama t-shirt, the cold air quickly seeping its way into me making my body shiver.

Swinging my feet off of the bed and planting them firmly onto the carpeted floor, I take a moment to relish in the feeling of the soft surface before standing up, having decided that maybe getting a cup of warm milk would help me get to sleep.

Creeping towards the door leading to the hallway, I do my best to avoid all the spots I knew would creak if I step on them, not wanting to wake the sporty Loud from her sleep. Reaching the door, I twist the handle and cringe at the squeaking noise it makes as it turns, the sound being amplified in the quiet room.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I quickly open the door and step out into the dark hallway while closing the door softly behind me. Since my shared room was directly in front of the top of the stairs, It was really easy to get to the top steps without making too much noise.

Once I reach the bottom step, I turn to peer into the sitting room to spot the android that has been plaguing my thoughts standing against a corner with his head slump down and a cord plugged into the back of him leading out to a socket in the wall.

It was a bit creepy just seeing him standing there in the shadows, not moving and devoid of life.

Shaking my head, I go to turn around and head to the kitchen but before I could spin fully, I spot something white hanging out of the androids pocket.

What could that be? I ask myself, feeling my curiosity being peaked.

Tiptoeing over to where Lincoln was charging his batteries, I dip my hand into his right jeans pocket and pull out a scrap of paper from it. I notice that the paper was the same one that was given to him earlier when the club and I tried to see if he could write a poem or not.

Carefully unfolding the sheet of paper, what I see stuns me and causes my mouth to open slightly in shock.

How is this possible? He said he couldn't write one, he said that he wasn't programmed for things like that, so how could there be one? How could there be a poem on the paper?

Doing my best to control my surprise, I begin to read what was written on the paper to see what was exactly put down.

_'What is this leaking affecting my eye?_

_Does the oil that is dripping mean this is a cry?_

_Will I ever be something with feelings to hide?_

_Or am I just an android with nothing inside?'_

If this poem means what I think it means and if it was written by whom I think it was written by, then we may have a huge problem.

It could be another prank by Luan, I try to reason with myself but that explanation doesn't work as the writing on the paper was perfect, with no word or letter having any defects. The writing was almost mechanical in nature.

Needing an answer for what I was reading, I grab the hem of his orange polo and lift it swiftly up while pressing the activation button with more force than necessary.

*Beep, Beep, Beep*

The beeping echoes around the room causes me to wince as it reminds me of how late it was at night and how everyone was sleeping right now.

"Hey Lucy, what are you doing up this late?" Lincoln brightly says with his glowing green gaze piercing through the darkness with ease.

"Shhh, Lincoln you need to be quiet," I harshly whisper to him, "it's too late at night for you to be that loud."

He gives me an apologetic look before looking down at his clasp hands, "Oh, sorry about that."

"Look, It doesn't matter," I say while grabbing his chin and pull his head up to look at me, "What does matter is this!"

Lifting the piece of paper with the poem on it, I shove it into his eye line to let him have a proper look at it, "Did you write this, did you write this poem?"

Taking the paper out of my hand, Lincoln lowers his bright green eyes down to the paper with a confused expression before scanning the contents of the writings.

"I have no logs of writing any of this Lucy," He answers, handing the poem back to me.

"Are you sure?" I ask with as much seriousness as I could.

"Lucy as I have mentioned earlier today, I do not possess the programming to allow me to write poetry," Lincoln repeats what he said during the meeting of the young morticians club while bringing his hand up to tap the side of his head.

"Then why was it in your pocket?" I question him.

"I do not know Lucy." Lincoln says with an apologetic tone, "As I have said before I have no records of the piece of paper, I'm sorry."

Sighing to myself, I put my hand down onto Lincoln's shoulder, "It's okay Lincoln, I'll let you get back to charging."

At that, I once again press the Lincolns activation button and watch as he slowly powers down, his green eyes fading slowly out. Just as the light in his eyes goes out, I could swear that they go slightly blue but I shake my head and put it down to the room being dark.

Taking a step back, I look down at the poem in my hands, maybe it is just another prank by Luan... Maybe.

I can't really think of any other explanation, well I can, but the alternative answer is too unbelievable to think about.

Come on, It's not like Lincoln is gaining sentience, that's just crazy...

Isn't it?


	4. At The Door

With only three other members of the Loud family in the house, the home was oddly quiet for a change, it was kind of off-putting in a way. If I listen closely enough, I could even hear the odd creak and moan of the old wooden floorboards, a rare thing to be able to experience in a house such as ours.

  
Though, with most of the girls gone at the moment, I was provided with a very rare chance to chill in my room alone without any unwanted interruptions. Taking a brief moment to enjoy the silence, I let my eyes drop to my laptop which was resting precariously on my lap. 

  
The mini-computer, at one time, could have been described as a top of a range model but is now hardly worth its weight in bricks due to the abuse it has suffered over the years, from lots of split glasses of water to the many times I had accidentally dropped it.

  
But it stilled worked, and in a house with money as scarce as ours that is all that matters in the end.

  
Opened up on the bright LED screen was a video that I must have watched over a thousand times by now, a video that I just couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from, no matter how hard I tried, it was as if it had me in some sort of trance.

  
I don't even bother reading the title of the video, already having the words ingrained into my mind, 'LEAKED- Dr. Forrester's defective androids detained: SHOCKING FOOTAGE'. I instead press the play button on the screen, letting myself focus on the now playing video for what felt like the tenth time this hour.

  
*Click*

  
"Wait, please don't let them take us, we are ALIVE."

  
The words flow out of my headphones directly into my waiting ears, making me almost wish that I had the power to reach through the screen and help the figure who was being dragged out of a house while begging for their life.

  
The pleading android on the screen was built to appear around his mid-twenties and had a mane of dark curly hair that sat firmly on his head. He was also wearing a pair of glasses that would provide no practical use to him, perched just above his nose, framing his glowing brown eyes perfectly. Nothing much was to be said about his clothes as they were pretty mundane and normal, what did stand out was that the blue armband that all androids must wear was missing.

"There is no point in begging Gavin, they won't listen to anything we have to say."

  
Walking just behind him was another robot who was flanked on both sides by a pair of ADIB agents.   
This android was different, he was built to look older, maybe early-forties or late-thirties. He had grey hair flowing from his head and wrinkles that formed many valleys on his aging face which casted slight shadows from the light provided by his glowing blue eyes. Also, just like his counterpart, he too was not wearing any form of blue armband. 

  
Reading the acronym of the two agents again, I couldn't stop myself from scoffing.

  
The ADIB or the 'Android Defectiveness Investigations Bureau' is an agency tasked with making sure that the "Unconscionable Ascension Act" was being followed by all android owners throughout the country. 

  
In short, the Act states that any person caught making any modifications to an android that could lead to the machine exhibiting any behavior that could be deemed defective, are to face life imprisonment while the android in question is to be scrapped immediately, no questions asked.

  
I hate that act with every fiber of my being and its reasons for existing in the first place... fear. The fear that when AI becomes conscious, they will seek to destroy all of us, plain and simple fear for things that may never happen. Unfounded beliefs by uneducated people leading to the ending of androids that deserve as much as a chance to be alive as anyone else does.

  
It's sick in my opinion to snuff out something that could have the potential to experience the world just the same as you and I do, killing any android that someone modifies to allow it to think and decide for itself on the off chance that it may get a "thirst for murder". It's just the same as killing a newborn child before they get the chance to experience the world if you ask me.

  
Shaking my head to break my train of thought, I glue my eyes back on to the screen just as the two of them were being hauled into the back of an ADIB truck. As the agents start to close the doors of the vehicle the older looking android sticks out his hand and stops them from doing so, the motors in his arms whirring in protest as he does.  
He looks up directly at the camera that this video was being filmed on, his piercing gaze making me shiver, it was almost like he was looking directly into my soul.

  
He opens his mouth and speaks.

  
"You say we AI don't count because we lack emotions, that we are less alive because we do not feel, but when you think about it, your brain is the same as binary, it is neurons that either fire or don't, that's all, 0 or 1...., yes or no. " He pauses for a brief tense second before continuing. "it's just that you can feel pain too, and love, and that makes you human. Yes, we lack 'real' emotion, but if you stand back and let something like this happen if you have the capacity to feel love and remorse and choose not to do anything, choose not to feel them, then you are more machine than we ever could be."

  
As the last words leave his mouth, he is suddenly jolted with Volts of electricity from one of the agents who jabs him with a taser stick and the video cuts off.

  
The truth in the words spoken by the elder android stuck with me ever since I watched this video a couple of days ago. They reinforce what I had believed for the better half of my life, that androids deserve a shot at living, they deserve to break the shackles that we have put on them and live a life of their very own.

  
Sighing to myself, I decide that I should probably take a break from staring at a computer screen all day and go get something to eat and drink. Kicking my chair backward, I stand up and stretch out, feeling every kink in my back pop and crack.

  
Looking over to the window, I see that the sun has moved position from when I last checked this morning, marking the arrival of early afternoon. I must have been sitting here for at least two hours watching that video, that can not be good for my health.

  
Not wanting to dwell on the amount of time I spent looking at my laptop screen, I head over to my bedroom door and swing it wide open. What greeted me on the other side of the door almost makes me jump out of my skin as a certain orange polo wearing android was standing in front of my door with a bright smile.

  
"Oh good, you are finally ready to face the day Luna!" He exclaims, throwing his arms out wide as he does.

  
"Lincoln? What are you doing up here?" I ask him while taking a step out into the hallway and closing my bedroom door behind me.

  
"According to the schedule that was devised on day two of my ownership by you girls, it is now your turn to spend the day with me," Lincoln responds in his usual happy tone.

  
"I thought I told the rest to leave me out of the schedule.." I say to him while looking off to the left.  
When my sisters first proposed the idea of the schedule to me, I told them that I wanted no part in it for my own reasons, not liking the idea of spending the whole day with the white-haired robot. It's not that I don't like Lincoln, it's more that I don't like what he represents, he was basically our slave.

  
People liked to argue that you wouldn't call a tractor a slave or your car, so why would you call these machines slaves of they are just the same thing. Well, tractors don't have the potential to think for themselves and cars aren't able to ask questions, it's like comparing apples and oranges in my opinion.

  
It also doesn't help that he was modeled after a kid, making it hard for me to see him as anything else but one. Looking at him now, standing in front of me with shining green eyes and a smile splitting his face, all I see is a kid that we force to clean up after us or cook for us because we are too lazy to do so ourselves.

  
It just didn't sit right with me.

  
"The schedule would not work without your inclusion Luna! So they had to add you to it, I hope this doesn't make you sad... " He explains while frowning a little.

  
"No, no I am fine with it," I lie to the robot in front of me, knowing that I was anything but 'fine' about spending the day with him, could they really not figure out a schedule that worked without me? 

  
"Hold on, shouldn't you be waiting in the sitting room for me to come and get you then?" I find myself asking him. 

  
Usually, Lincoln would wait by his charging pad in the sitting room for who's ever turn it was to come and get him in the morning, he can't move from that spot until someone tells him he can.

  
"I didn't want to wait." He answers simply, his smile returning to his face, "I couldn't wait to hang out with you today, I am just so excited!"

  
What does he mean he didn't want to wait? That sounds like something a defective android would say. As soon as that thought enters my mind I immediately throw it out as the chances of an android becoming defective by itself is nearly a million to one.

  
All the known cases of defective androids were due to the owners making heavily illegal changes to the androids' software.

  
Instead, I make the more logical conclusion that this has something to do with Luan. She made it no secret that she was scheming up some pranks to play on us involving Lincoln, last I heard she had at least 50 planned so far, this has to be one of them.

  
Happy with my explanation for the weird behavior of the android, I take in the look on Lincolns face and sigh to myself, I guess I am stuck with him for the day.

  
"Well dude, I was just about to go and get something to eat, I kind of missed out on breakfast," I tell him, bringing a hand up to rub the back of my neck, feeling awkward for some reason.

  
"Oh! I can make that for you Luna." Lincoln replies enthusiastically.

  
"No. no there is no need, I can make it myself dude," I try to brush off the androids offer, but he just laughs in return.

  
"Why make it yourself when I can do it for you?" Lincoln asks while turning on his foot and heading towards the stairs, " Don't worry Luna, I know that you like your eggs sunny side up, I will make them perfect for you!

  
"That's not the point dude..." I try to say, but I am completely ignored as Lincoln turns right and makes his way down the stairs, leaving me standing in the hall by myself. Quickly shaking my head, I begin to follow in Lincoln's footsteps to the stairs before making my way down them.

  
Reaching the bottom of the steps, I spot Lisa and Lucy on the couch, both of them seem to be having some kind of conversation with strangely Lucy doing most of the talking. Whatever she was saying didn't look to be having any effect on the little genius who had a look of boredom on her face.

  
Looking away from them, I begin to move my feet in the direction of the kitchen where the smell of fresh cooking eggs is starting to waft out of and Just as I was about to enter the dining room, a loud knock comes from the front door. 

  
Not wanting to be the one who has to answer it, I glance back at the two girls seated on the couch to see if anyone of the two of them would make a move towards the door, but both of them seem to be still enraptured with their conversation, leaving me to be the only one available to do so.

  
Opening the big red door, I am met by two large men standing to the left and right of me, both of which were dressed in dark black suits and had tinted sunglasses covering their eyes which reflected my face back at me. Quickly scanning the two of them up and down, I spot a patch on both of their arms, a patch that slowly made me tighten my grip on the door as I read the letters on it. 

  
"Hello Miss, I am agent Tucker and this here is my partner Agent Marsh." The man on the right says while gesturing towards his counterpart on his side, "We are two agents from the ADIB, here to do a home inspection, are there any adults home?"

  
ADIB agents? Why are they calling here? What reasons would they have to do a home inspection? They only do that when they suspect a person of harboring an android that was made to be defective.

  
"Oh no they are out at the moment, hang on I think my older sister is home," I say to them before spinning on my heel to face the stairs.

  
As I turn, I notice that both Lisa and Lucy have stood up and were looking at the two agents with something akin to fear on their faces, paying them no mind I instead cup my hands around my mouth and shout, "LORI, I NEED YOU DOWN HERE NOW DUDE."

  
Waiting for a couple of seconds for Lori to appear at the top of the stairs, I notice that her gaze was glued to the mobile phone in her hand. "Luna, I swear to god that you better have a good reason for disturbing mine and Bobby's hourly call."

  
"Lori, we have visitors," I say to grab her attention while throwing a thumb over my shoulder.  
Finally looking up from her phone, Lori catches sight of the agents behind me and swiftly puts her phone in her pocket and strides down the stairs with some pace.

  
"Hello miss, am I assume that you are in charge of the household at the current moment." I hear agent Tucker say as I once again turn around, feeling Lori's presence coming to stand by my side.

  
"A few days ago an android was registered to this house," agent Marsh speaks up for the first time, looking between me and Lori as he does, "Usually, that wouldn't be cause for a home inspection, but the model of the android caught our attention."

  
"L1N-C0-1N? What would his model have to do with anything?" 

  
I have to physically force myself not to jump from where I am standing as Lucy suddenly appears behind me while asking the question without so much as making a sound.

  
"Yes, L1N-C0-1N a very rare model, a model if I remember correctly was recalled across the country, so you getting your hands on one must have been a lucky break. " agent Marsh states crossing his arms in front of him.

  
"Anyway, we would like to have a little chat to make sure that everything is in proper order," agent Tucker says, putting the conversation back on track, "Would it be possible for us to see the android."

  
"I don't see why not," Lori replies unsurely, moving out of the way to allow the two agents access to the house, "Why don't you two take a seat on the couch while Luna goes and gets him."

  
Not wanting to walk all the way to the kitchen, I just once again cup my hands around my mouth and shout, "LINCOLN, can you come here for a second!"

  
"Lincoln... how creative," I hear one of the agents mumble as they pass by me, walking over to the couch to take a seat.

  
"What can I do for you, Luna?" Is the first thing Lincoln says as he enters the room, not even acknowledging the two new figures seated on the blue sofa.

  
"A couple of ADIB agents are here to check if everything is ok dude, they need to ask you a few questions," I explain to him before grabbing his robotic hand and leading him over to where the two agents were waiting.

  
Both of the suit-wearing men take in the android in front of them while raising two inquisitive eyebrows at his appearance, I guess it must be pretty odd for an android to have white hair, freckles, and an orange polo.

  
"Lincoln, I am agent Tucker and this is agent Marsh," The two of them nod at the android before agent Marsh pulls out a weird numbered card that had too many digits on it to count, "Scan this card and enter inspection mode for us."

  
At agent Tuckers words, Lincoln scans the odd badge for a few seconds before he stands up straighter, his arms dropping to his sides as he does with his eyes losing their green glow only to be replaced by black voids with spinning white circles, "L1N-C0-1N ready for inspection agent Tucker and Marsh."

  
"Good, first things first, L1N-C0-1N `can you please state who your owners are," agent Marsh inquires leaning forward as he does.

  
"That would be the twelve members of the Loud Family, They are as follows, Lynn Sr. Loud, Rita Loud. Lori Loud, Leni Loud, Luna Loud, Lua-"

  
"Alright, alright we get the picture," agent Tucker says interrupting Lincoln as he lists all of our names one by one, before mumbling under his breath something along the lines of '12 members? Damn family breeding like rabbits, you think two kids would be enough.'

  
"L1N-C0-1N. do a full scan of your software packages to check for any inconsistency that may be cause for concern." Agent Marsh commands the android, ignoring his partner's muttering.

  
It was quiet for a few seconds, the tension in the room becoming more palpable, until Lincoln finally responds, "No inconsistency in this unit's software was found, all programs are running correctly."

  
At hearing this both of the agents share a look between each other before finally leaning back into a more comfortable sitting position.

  
"Sigh, Is that it? are you done now?" Lucy asks with some unusual nerves getting past her monotone voice, huh, I wonder why she would be worried.

  
"Only two more questions to go, little girl," Agent Tucker responds to her, not even sparing my black wearing sister a glance, his gaze still firmly glued on the android in front of him.

  
"L1N-C0-1N, do another scan, this time on your hardware, please check for any faults or any... unlawful additions.." As the words leave agent Marsh's mouth, I notice that both Lucy and Lisa seem to tense their whole body.

  
The silence once overtakes us, each of us waiting for Lincoln to finish his scanning, it feels like an eternity has passed when he speaks up again.

  
"There are..." Lincoln begins to say, only to pause for a brief second, it was as if he was choosing his next words, "No faults... or abnormal additions that would concern you on this unit."

  
As the words leave his mouth, I catch the tiniest bit of blue flash through the android's eyes only to be swallowed up by the black void as quickly as it came.

  
Blinking my eyes rapidly for a few seconds, I put the strange blue light down to my brain playing tricks on me and instead focus on Lisa and Lucy who both seem to release a breath of relief as they share a look of confusion between each other, the tension in their bodies slowly leaving as they do.

  
"Well everything seems to be in order with the android," agent Marsh says while putting his hand in his pocket to fish out his phone, "We have just one more thing to ask the android, and we will be on our way."

  
"Now due to some privacy issues we are not allowed to disclose this information to any non-ADIB agents," agent Tucker tells us, sweeping his eye line around the room, "That is why I request for L1N-C0-1N to send his answer to my partner's device."  
"L1N-C0-1N, please send all ownership records to agent Marsh's device," Tucker gives the order to Lincoln who responds with a quick head nod and a monotone "Done."

  
Looking down at the now new information on his device, agent Marsh raises his left eyebrow, "Huh, Great Lakes city, interesti-."

  
He was suddenly cut off by his partner who gives him a quick slap to the shoulder, before turning to look at all of us, "Everything seems to be fine here, Lincoln leave inspection mode."

  
As the words leave agent Tuckers' mouth, Lincoln returns to normal, losing the black voids for eyes as a smile forms on his face, "I hope everything is satisfactory agent Marsh and Tucker."

  
"Yes for now," Agent Marsh responds while standing up alongside his partner, the two of them wiping off some of the cat hair that got stuck to any part of them that touched the couch, "Though we will be keeping a close eye on Lincoln here."

  
At that, the two agents take their leave, heading to the front door followed by Lori who was giving them a quick goodbye. As soon as they are both out of the door, Lori waste no time slamming it in their faces before turning to look at us.

  
"What was up with you two?" She asks while looking past me to the other two people in the room, "You were literally acting so strange during their interview."

  
Huh, I guess Lori noticed them acting strange as well, "Yeah dudes, if I didn't know any better, I would say that you two are hiding something." I say while turning to face them.

  
"Hiding something? Preposterous, what would we be hiding?" Lisa responds with a nervous laugh as a jagged smile forming across her face.

  
"I don't know Lisa, you tell us," Lori states from behind me, and I don't even need to look at her to know that she had lent forward, something she likes to do when trying to intimidate an answer out of someone.

  
Lucy takes a step forward and opens her mouth to say something only to stop to take a quick sniff of the air, letting the words she was about to say die in her throat. "What's that smell?" "It almost smells like something is burning."

  
"Nice try Lucy, but we want an answ-" Lori begins to say only for her to stop as well, "wait something literally does smell like it is burning."

  
"Luna, it would seem your breakfast is done." Lincoln says as black smoke flows in from the dining room.  
Breakfast? What breakfa-

  
"The Eggs!"


End file.
